Retain your mobile number while switching provider

New Delhi: Mobile users in India must be happy as Government of India is going to implement Mobile Number Portability (MNP) system soon, reported The Economic Times. MNP enables users to change the current mobile operator to the other without having any change in their mobile number.

Department of telecom (DoT) is all set to announce the timeline and the methodology that will be adopted for the implementation of MNP within the next few weeks. Sources said that DoT will issue a request for Proposal (RFP) for selection of centralized operators who will administer and implement MNP. Later, Centralized operators will be selected through a bidding process and the successful bidders will have to invest up to 100 crore to set up clearing houses for MNP. Then they become Mobile Number Portability Clearing House Administrators (MCHAs) and there will be a Number Portability Database (NPDB) to store the mobile numbers of all cellular users.

Earlier, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had submitted its recommendation on implementing MNP and it stated that a neutral third party should own and operate MNP clearing house and the centralized data base. TRAI had also suggested that the company should not have substantial equity (over 10 percent stake) directly or indirectly in any of the service provider in India, similarly any telecom service provider should not have substantial equity directly or indirectly in the company. "The cost for the system can be recovered by charging a port transaction fee from service providers," added TRAI.